As we continue our venture into this summer season, it’s time to tackle the issue of the added stress it can have for families. With these three *Summer Survival* tips we hope to make the remainder of your summer more of a dream than a struggle.

1. Summer is the perfect time to encourage Self-Directed Learning.

*Create a learning space that encourages independence. If you want your children to be independent then you need to make sure your home is set up so they are able to be. Are their belongings kept where they can access them without your help? Do they have free access to learning materials and art supplies so they can utilize them whenever inspiration strikes?

*Let them answer their own questions. When a new interest arises and there are questions upon questions, instead of just giving them the answers, try to encourage them to research themselves. You might ask:

‘What do you think?’
‘How do you think we could find out?’
‘Where could we look for the answer?’
‘Who could we ask about this?’
‘Where could we go to see this in real life?
Set out materials with a resource on their current interest to encourage them to explore that interest further.

*Have your child learn to play a musical instrument. Studies show that learning to play a new instrument is complex and over a long period of time it is ideal for strengthening the mind.

*Get Moving. You can do simple exercises with your child like sitting and touching your right elbow to your left knee. Do this five times and then do left elbow to right knee. Repeat several times. Go old school and have the kids play outside. Send them out with minimal toys and see what they come up with. Kids of all ages like bubbles, running through sprinklers and body paints. Have an old-fashioned water balloon fight or watermelon eating contest.

3. Limit Technology

*One of the quickest ways to watch the summer slip through your fingers and spend your days with combative and grouchy kids, is to let technology take over. Technology is a part of life and there are so many benefits to its usage, but too much will hurt us. Make it clear how much technology is allowed each day so that things don’t get out of control. Some families like to allow their kids to earn their technology by doing extra work around the house and yard. Or by doing extra things to serve and help others. However you decide to monitor your technology, be mindful of the time your kids are spending in front of it.
Happy Summer!

Summer is a great time to relax and not worry about the pressures of school but you also don’t want your children to lose ground on what they have learned throughout the school year. To preserve learning outcomes and prevent the ‘summer slide’ there are many ways to keep things playful and stress-free while traveling on the road with your children or while staying at home. Below are perfect opportunities for bonding with your child and to casually squeeze in summer learning.

Start a family book club. Reading is one of the most important skills to maintain and develop. Family member’s take turns reading the same book and then meeting to discuss what they liked and did not like. This is a great way to create family bonding time and enhance your child’s critical thinking skills. Be sure to stay up to date with the activities at your local library, which provides fun and sociable learning opportunities.

Let them be your travel agents. Are you going away this summer? If so, put your children in charge of planning at least one aspect of the trip. Give them maps, brochures and guides, and see how they use their skills to figure out a plan. Let them help you search for lodging within your budget and in the area you want to stay. Together, you can learn about nearby attractions and plan your visit accordingly. The entire process not only builds confidence, but serves as a finance, geography, history and social studies lesson all wrapped in one.

Make the most out of ‘carschooling.’ I remember traveling with cookie sheets and a plastic tote filled with goodies for my children. Easily held on a lap, a cookie sheet can be used as a surface for playing magnetic games like tic tac toe, playing word games like Mad Libs, and glow-in-the-dark toys (when traveling at night). It’s an inexpensive alternative to a car-seat lap desk, and when it’s not in use, it fits in the back pocket of the seat. Give each child their own notebook and a few pages of stickers and let them make their own creations.

Have a scavenger hunt at the museum. One way to turn a visit to the museum into a fun and educational experience is to make it a scavenger hunt. If you’re going to an art museum, your list can include things you might see in paintings or sculptures from a certain country. If it’s a natural history museum, you can include fossils and animals on your list.

Make something. While there are plenty of kits out there to promote STEM learning skills, you can encourage your children to use their creativity and knowledge to build projects from common household materials. Some classic examples of this would be making a raft out of empty milk cartons or plastic bottles, a homemade volcano using vinegar and baking soda or a homemade electromagnet.

Become a collector. A great way for children to get hands-on knowledge of the natural world is for them to build a collection while discovering the outdoors. Rocks, plants, bugs – these are the things that excite a young mind. Search for different kinds of leaves to press at home, then work with your children to identify their types.

Put simply, kids need to keep their wheels turning. Without ongoing opportunities to learn and practice essential skills, kids fall behind on measures of academic achievement over the summer months.

Summer presents an untapped opportunity – a time of year when youth and families seek enriching summertime experiences and these opportunities help ensure summer learning gain rather than loss.

Increasing technology in the primary classroom with the use of primary Active Expressions to be used in conjunction with Activ Boards will prove beneficial for the teachers in regards to engagement, the student’s attention and motivation, and the schools overall implementation efforts to increase the use of technology to meet the needs of the students today. There is a link between students need to know and teachers’ knowledge of how technology is used as a tool for student learning. When teachers understand the benefit of technology in teaching and learning only then can they find ways to integrate it in more meaningful ways. It takes many hours of use and planning to learn the possibilities of a computer software application and have time to explore possibilities for integration. Teachers experiences related to technology affect their competency and their opinions about using technology. There is a rationale for schools’ to investment in complex interactive learning; learning in which children feel that they have an intimate involvement and that caters for their diverse (and individual) needs. Integration is the key to my use of computers with young students. Often, we think that when we use the computers with our students we are integrating technology in the classroom. Computers are not the only “technology” available for education. Kindergarten children taking photographs as the focus for personal writing, investigate the potential of such multi-modal meaning making to empower children to develop their own voices. Computer technology has been demonstrated to enhance classroom instruction by making learning more engaging, and by providing new ways of teaching complex concepts and critical thinking. Use of technology that incorporates visual and collaborative teaching practices has helped promote learning among students of all ability levels, but especially those with mild learning disorders. All subject area can benefit from the use of technology in the classroom. Technology gives students full control over the learning environment so that they can better understand the interplay between the different forces acting upon this environment.

According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Technological tools can support a learner-centered and play-oriented early childhood curriculum and promote relationship building among children, families, and the wider community. There are endless possibilities for technology integration in the early childhood classroom. Teachers must ensure opportunities for all children to participate and learn in the technology-rich environment. In this class, an array of traditional tools (such as paper and pencils, books, crayons) and digital technologies are placed in open spaces to encourage children to investigate and learn together rather than on their own.

All methods must be addressed to incorporate technology more consistently in primary classroom must be addressed. Technology has become a common element in most children’s lives. They use computers daily and this will be a way for them to show their knowledge and interact on a high-tech level throughout the year. As educators we must education ourselves and build our self-efficacy in regards to the use of technology so we can provide the most meaningful learning for our students and starting in primary grades. With early expose they can begin to use familiar technology tools as a part of their academic program and build upon it each year.

Educators understand the growing and changing world we live in and in order to meet the students’ needs we must modify the methods of teaching. It is imperative we have an effective plan to address these concerns and promote technology in a way to excite the teacher of its possibilities and make the implementation of it a priority. In addition, cooperation and collaboration among the administration and staff of teachers is essential in the utilization of its applications in the classrooms.

Continuous professional improvement will comprise:

Professional development workshop for staff of teachers

Workshops for teachers to share models of meaningful uses of technology

The professional development workshop can be an imperative strategy to provide teachers with the knowledge and skills required to learn how to use the new technology. This should alleviate the initial frustration teachers may feel when learning to use new technology. Weekly workshops for teachers interested in sharing ways they have incorporated the new technology can be a great way to showcase teachers who have taken to initiative to try new methods along with provide others with key examples of potential lessons they can replicate in their classrooms. My professional goal was to increase students reading and math by utilizing technology-based assessment tools such as student response system in the classroom on each unit and lesson taught. This will keep me aware of progress students are making continually, effectively and instantly. Focus groups, professional development workshops, joining professional organizations all with a team of teachers working together to develop technological content lessons will provide a more direct way for each curriculum area to be addressed and integrated. Most importantly providing teachers with the time and place to work within their grade level to practice, create and develop lessons and methods is a critical component to the success of meaningful technology integration.